1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for providing television, audio, and other media to subscribers, and in particular to a method and system for controlling a receiver configured to receive a media program from a primary media provider to receive a secondary media program from a secondary media provider.
2. Description of the Related Art
Television programs are distributed to viewers by a variety of broadcasting methods. These methods include traditional analog broadcast television (National Television Systems Committee or xe2x80x9cNTSCxe2x80x9d standard), the digital broadcast television (Advanced Television Systems Committee or xe2x80x9cATSCxe2x80x9d standard), cable television (both analog and digital), and satellite broadcasting (both analog and digital). These methods allow channels of television content to be multiplexed and transmitted over a common transmission medium.
Program guides for television programming are known in the art. A common method for obtaining television programming information is by consulting paper television programming guides or schedules. This method of disseminating information, however, has limitations. A paper guide may become obsolete or a schedule may change, rendering the paper copy useless. Additionally, the paper schedule may easily be lost.
Electronic program guides have been used to alleviate some of the limitations of paper. One example is a cable system that provides a continuous feed of guide information to a dedicated television channel. The channel displays continuous program listings. The continuous nature of the link allows the guide to be updated and reflect current scheduling information. An alternate method of providing guide content is to send it, along with program content, through satellite transmissions to receiving stations.
Typically, electronic program guides are based around the use of a scheduling grid. This grid typically involves one axis which corresponds to time and another axis which corresponds to transmission channels. At the intersection of each channel and time slot is a xe2x80x9ccellxe2x80x9d which typically displays the title of the program that is being shown on that channel at that time.
The number of media programs available to the consumer has been increasing dramatically. Unfortunately, many of these programming alternatives are provided by different program service providers. One such program service provider is DIRECTV, which provides television and audio services to customers via a satellite broadcast. Another such program service provider is the Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) currently under development by XM SATELLITE RADIO. This system proposes to transmit programming, primarily audio, via satellite (and ground transponders where necessary) to mobile and fixed terrestrial receivers. As a consequence, the media programs broadcast by one program service provider cannot be received on the receiving equipment of the other program service provider. Further, conditional access techniques (which prevent unauthorized individuals from obtaining access to the media programs) are typically implemented by both of the service providers, requiring the subscriber to subscribe to separate services and to manage two separate accounts. What is needed is a system for an integrated presentation of the media programs from primary service providers and secondary service providers, and an integrated technique for managing conditional access to the programs provided by different service providers. The present invention satisfies that need.
In summary, the present invention describes a system and method for providing an integrated presentation of a secondary service as a part of a primary service. One embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of accepting a selection of a secondary media program transmitted on a secondary media program channel; accessing a mapping to determine a primary media program channel associated with the selected secondary media program channel; commanding a first tuner module to receive conditional access information associated with the primary media program channel from the primary service provider; evaluating the conditional access information to determine if a second tuner is authorized to receive the secondary media program channel; and commanding a second tuner module to receive the secondary media program if the second tuner is authorized to receive the secondary media program channel. Another embodiment of the invention comprises the steps of receiving program guide information from the primary service provider in a first tuner module wherein the program guide information includes a description of each of the primary and secondary media programs and primary program channels associated with each of the primary and secondary media programs; generating an integrated program guide comprising a combination of the primary media programs and the secondary media programs and the primary program channels; and presenting the integrated program guide information.
The apparatus comprises a first tuner module for receiving a primary signal having at least one of a set of primary media programs and conditional access information from a primary service provider, a second tuner module for receiving a secondary signal having at least one of a set of secondary media programs from a secondary service provider, a conditional access module, communicatively coupled to the first tuner for processing the conditional access information provided by the primary service provider to enable a determination of whether a user is entitled to receive at least one of the primary media programs and whether a user is entitled to receive at least one of the secondary media programs, and a controller module, communicatively coupled to the first tuner module, the second tuner module, and the conditional access module, for enabling presentation of the first media programs by the first tuner when the first tuner is entitled to receive the primary media programs and the secondary media programs when the user is entitled to receive secondary media programs.
Given two separate systems for the delivery (and/or retrieval and storage) of media programs and information, the present invention presents the information (television, audio, text, graphics, etc.) in an integrated manner as if it were obtained from the same service provider (e.g. the primary service provider). The present invention uses conditional access techniques, an electronic program guide, and receiver hardware elements of the primary service to control the display of the secondary service""s content as provided by receiving elements from a secondary service receiver. Without the present invention, the content of the secondary service would ordinarily be retransmitted over the primary service distribution system, consuming precious bandwidth and transmission capacity. Further, the present invention allows the secondary service provider to utilize the program guide and conditional access capabilities of the primary service provider and to find a broader audience for its programming. Retransmission of the secondary services over the primary system can also unnecessarily complicate the management of content and distribution rights.